| Author | Message | ||
     Ascottc |
I am a missionary (FYI if you care - Christian, member of PCA but not stuck there, if you know what that means and care) and will be working in NW Mexico on the coast of the Gulf of California soon. I'll be doing most of my work by motorcycle and have been planning on purchasing a Mexican made Italika Dual Sport as they are considered dependable and easy to work on and parts are everywhere. HOWEVER ... I was recently visiting some friends in Mississippi and mentioned this to one of them. He has a 2007 XB12XT with 3,500 miles, hard saddle bags, was in great shape. He bought it and rode it a bit but then hit a snag. As I understand it, he started it one morning to go to work, went inside and something happened that suddenly made it necessary to take his truck. He forgot the bike and left it running in the garage all day. When he came home in the afternoon it had overheated. He said it makes a hella racket now when you crank it, but it does run. He told me that if it's worth my time and effort, I can have the bike to fix and take to Mexico. He'll just give it to me. Said he didn't enjoy riding as much as he thought he would and just has not been interested enough to to fix it. I don't know yet exactly what is wrong with it. Maybe somebody here has an educated guess? We're gonna try to figure out details, but this guy says he's "no mechanic." I'm fairly competent mechanically but, as I know very little about Buells, this seems a good place to start. The bike is not here with me, have not seen it yet but am assured that it is otherwise in very good shape. I know that I'm not giving much info here, but if any of you folks with some experience could help me out... What do you experts think? Is this a bike I should look at getting fixed and using down there on the coast and in the desert? Or should I just plan to go with an Italika, a local bike that I can get parts for and fix easily locally? >How hard are they for a shadetree mechanic to work on? >How hard is it to get parts? >Any ballpark guess about what a full engine rebuild (if that's what it'll need) would cost? >How dependable are they in situations where one's life might literally depend on it? (I can get the Italika Dual Sport http://italika.mx/Modelos/DobleProposito/ - for less than $2,000usd, btw. It'd only be a 200cc or a 250cc, but it'd be adequate to get me around and both locals and expats say they're solid bikes. I will eventually be doing longer trips, so the greater weight and power and the saddle bags would eventually come in handy.) (Message edited by AScottC on August 15, 2017) | ||
| Blake |
I'd stay away from that bike if what you need is something ultra-dependable, and if you're not familiar with the engine already, I'd not recommend taking on a rebuild. A much lighter dual sport machine will serve you well, especially if you ever need to go off-road. The Buell is not an off-road bike, more just a rough-road bike. Idling in and of itself shouldn't have caused any damage whatsoever. Something else was at work. These bikes have an electric cooling fan, and idling just doesn't produce a lot of heat to begin with. Good luck in Mexico! (Message edited by Blake on August 16, 2017) |
